Originally scheduled to be entitled Myst Dimensions, realMYST is a
remake of the 1993 best selling, highly acclaimed, ever-controversial
adventure game from Cyan. Why did they decide to call it
realMYST? The original Myst wasn't a figment of our imaginations,
was it? According to the Miller brothers, it's called realMYST
because this is the Myst they envisioned so many years ago. An
epic tale told in a fully immersive and dynamic world using
state-of-the-art, real-time 3D graphics. If you missed Myst the first
time around, here's your chance to experience the myth and
legend. If you have played the original, this is your chance to play
Myst the way Cyan intended the game to be played. Of course, just
because the engine has been updated doesn't mean the game is
any less tedious or frustrating than it was in its original form.

Myst is arguably the title that changed the face of adventure
gaming forever. It featured photo-realistic environments portrayed
using static viewpoints and slideshow-style movements. Perhaps
more importantly, it offered tedious puzzles that seemed to forge
the way for future adventure games. No longer did the puzzles
have to correlate with the rest of the game, as long as they were
challenging and unique.

Myst tells a tale of mystery and intrigue. While reading a
mysterious book, you're transported to a beautiful deserted island
where, through the writing of its former inhabitant, a man named
Atrus, and some interactions with his sons, you must piece
together the history of the island. The premise was a simple one,
but the adventure itself was not.

Anybody who played the original Myst knows that graphically, this
was as good as it got. The remake is no different. realMYST (boy
does Microsoft Word hate it when you start a new sentence without
capitalizing the first word) injects new life into the original offering
by incorporating shooter-like freedom of movement. You're no
longer limited to taking one step forward or backward. Instead,
you can turn about 360 degrees, walk and look anywhere you
choose, and enjoy the island as it lives and breathes around you.
The weather changes, the sun rises and sets, the trees sway in the
wind, and the animals of the island scurry by. You'll witness
real-time lightning and ambient environment effects such as
lightning and flickering torchlights. Its textures like you've never
seen before, but they come at a price. While realMYST runs
relatively smoothly when in indoor environments, the outdoor
environments are killers in terms of framerates. The original Myst
required a hefty system to play and realMYST is no different. If you
don't have a top of the line machine, this once rich world will turn
poor extremely fast, which in turn affects the underlying
gameplay.

Speaking of gameplay, realMYST is exactly the same game as
the original Myst. While new life was injected by way of an
improved engine, the puzzles and all the books in the Myst library
remain the same. For those of you who never played the original
Myst, the puzzles can be quite tedious, if not frustrating. Many of
the puzzles require lever and switch manipulation of some kind,
and those aren't even the worst puzzles. While many of these
conundrums relate in some way to the storyline, often explained
upon completing a task, they're often absurd situations. Beginners
will undoubtedly find themselves wandering the island several
times over looking for something to do, that's how irrelevant some
of these puzzles are. Veterans of Myst, I'll have you know that if
you completed the original game, you'll probably breeze through
realMYST in a matter of hours. The only new puzzles featured in
the game are found in a new Age that has been added to the end
of the game, puzzles that are much less inane than the original
ones. If only they touched up on the original puzzles, this game
might be worth more than seeing the epilogue and the new Age.

With that said, Myst is still beloved by many. If you enjoyed the
original Myst, and you're intrigued by the real-time environments
and the freedom of movement, you might just want to re-visit this
mysterious island one last time for nostalgic purposes. If you were
impartial to the original game, particularly the puzzles, there's
really nothing here that will change your view. In my opinion, the
puzzles are tedious and the framerates are terrible in the outdoor
environments, combining for a frustrating adventure to say the
least. realMYST appears to be little more than a side project while
production on Myst 3: Exile continues, an adventure I'm certainly
looking forward too. As it stands, I liken realMYST to a film
re-release, ala The Exorcist. Unless you're interested in the
digitally re-mastered effects and a few minutes of added footage,
it's probably not worth revisiting if for little more than a stroll down
memory lane.